THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



95 



more than fifty bees Hying around the 

 third stand north from where tlie hive 

 stood, and not a bee came back to the 

 hive. Then I moved the hive to the bees, 

 and they went in immediately. We car- 

 ried out eight of the eleven hives to this 

 stand, and let the bees pick their places, 

 the ninth one proved to be the one that 

 had stood there before. " Now," said he, 

 " I think I know where the other two 

 stood ;" and we carried them out and 

 opened them, and I went to examining the 

 first hives brought out, and I thought 

 nothing of the last two till near night, 

 when i went to them and found the ground 

 in front of each covered with dead bees. 

 One was common black and the other 

 Italian. The bees had really quit flying, 

 though the thermometer stood at 74 '^ 

 Fahrenheit. Next morning I changed the 

 hives, cleared away the dead bees and 

 opened the hives, finding about a pint of 

 dead Italians in the black hive, and nearly 

 a quart of blacks in the Italian hive. The 

 thermometer stood at 65 in the shade, and 

 the bees flew livelj- from all the hives. I 

 staid till noon, and there was no fighting 

 at any of the hives. 



In looking over the honey reports since 

 August, I have been ver\^ much surprised 

 to see so many, (even gentlemen with M. 

 D. attached to their names) speak of 

 smart- weed being among their best honey 

 plants. I will not say that smart-weed 

 yields no honey, though I have never 

 seen a bee on it, and I suppose I had be- 

 tween 3,000 and 4,000 pounds gathered in 

 about five weeks last August and Septem- 

 ber from the same plant they call smart- 

 weed. There are two or three varieties of 

 the plant that yields honey, resembling 

 swart-weed in form of stem and leaf, but 

 they grow much taller and have red flow- 

 ers on an upright stem, and are mucilagin- 

 ous, while the flow^er stem of smart-weed 

 is drooping, like a weeping willow, and 

 the blossom is white. A poultice made 

 from the bruised herb burns worse than a 

 mustard plaster, and is good for rheuma- 

 tism and sprains. I do not know the bo- 

 tanical name of either of the plants. My 

 bees carried in shipstufi' every day last 

 week ; the last ,year's stocks carrying the 

 principal part, and the latest carrying by 

 far the most. Some of the old stocks did 

 not carry any. Last winter I had 40 col- 

 onies, and one day in March they carried 

 in 10 pounds of rye flour mixed with 

 coarse wheat bran, to keep them from 

 swamping in the flour. Two of them, 

 which proved lobe queenless, did not carry 

 any at all during the spring. Is there any 

 danger of their carrying in too much? 

 Please answer in the next Journal and 

 oblige, Yours «&c., C. T. Smith, 



Trenton, Clinton Co., Ills., Jan. 10, 1876. 

 [There is some difi"erence of opinion 

 about the importance of placing bees in 

 spring upon the same stands they occu- 



pied the previous .season; some insisting 

 that the bees will go back to their old 

 stands, the same as if they had only been 

 in over night; and others, that it is of no 

 consequence where they are placed, as 

 they have forgotton all about the old loca- 

 tion. Probably both are right. In the 

 case given by Mr. Smith, the bees, having 

 been confined only two weeks, would be 

 sure to go back to their old stands; and 

 much loss would occur from their being 

 placed otherwise. In our own practice, 

 we have not generally placed the hives 

 upon the same stands which they occu- 

 pied the previous season, and think we 

 have met no serious loss in consequence ; 

 but are quite sure that in some cases the 

 bees have at least taken a look at the old 

 spot which was home the previous year. 

 But our bees have usually been confined a 

 long time in the cellar — four months or 

 more. If they were carried out for a fly 

 every warm spell, we should expect them 

 to show a better memory of the old spot. 

 Moreover, being confined for so long a 

 period in the same cellar, they seem in 

 some way to lose their distinguishing 

 scent, so that immediately on first being 

 taken out of the cellar two colonies may 

 be united without any preparation what- 

 ever, and without any quarreling. So in 

 such case, if a bee should go to the 

 wrong hive, it would be kindly received. 

 Our bees, at some time during the winter, 

 generally undergo a temperature at, or 

 near, the freezing point. May not the de- 

 gree of cold the^ have suftered have some- 

 thing to do with the matter under discus- 

 sion ? It is at least, safe to put them on 

 the old stands, if the precaution has been 

 taken to note where the old stands are. 



We think there is little danger that the 

 bees of our correspondent will carry in 

 too much meal. The fact that the oldest 

 colonies carried in little or none, would 

 seem to indicate that they were not in so 

 much need of it as the younger colonies 

 which had not had time to lay in a store; 

 and, if so, then these younger colonies 

 would not be likely to care so much for it 

 after their wants were supplied. There 

 are exceptional localities where the yield 

 of pollen is so abundant as to be ob- 

 jectionable, and in such places it might 

 not be advisable to feed meal without 

 limit.]— Ed. 



